1Das Wort, welches Jesaja, der Sohn Amoz', über Juda und Jerusalem geschaut hat. 2Und es wird geschehen am Ende der Tage, da wird der Berg des Hauses Jehovas feststehen auf dem Gipfel der Berge und erhaben sein über die Hügel; und alle Nationen werden zu ihm strömen. 3Und viele Völker werden hingehen und sagen: Kommt und laßt uns hinaufziehen zum Berge Jehovas, zum Hause des Gottes Jakobs! Und er wird uns belehren aus seinen Wegen, und wir wollen wandeln in seinen Pfaden. Denn von Zion wird das Gesetz ausgehen, und das Wort Jehovas von Jerusalem; 4und er wird richten zwischen den Nationen und Recht sprechen vielen Völkern. Und sie werden ihre Schwerter zu Pflugmessern schmieden, und ihre Speere zu Winzermessern; nicht wird Nation wider Nation das Schwert erheben, und sie werden den Krieg nicht mehr lernen. 5Kommt, Haus Jakob, und laßt uns wandeln im Lichte Jehovas! 6Denn du hast dein Volk, das Haus Jakob, verstoßen; denn sie sind voll dessen, was vom Morgenlande kommt, und sind Zauberer gleich den Philistern, und schlagen ein mit den Kindern der Fremden. 7Und ihr Land ist voll Silber und Gold, und ihrer Schätze ist kein Ende; und ihr Land ist voll Rosse, und ihrer Wagen ist kein Ende. 8Und ihr Land ist voll Götzen; sie werfen sich nieder vor dem Werke ihrer Hände, vor dem, was ihre Finger gemacht haben. 9Und der Mensch wird gebeugt und der Mann erniedrigt werden; und du wirst ihnen nicht vergeben. 10Verkrieche dich in die Felsen und verbirg dich im Staube vor dem Schrecken Jehovas und vor der Pracht seiner Majestät! 11Die hochmütigen Augen des Menschen werden erniedrigt, und die Hoffart des Mannes wird gebeugt werden; und Jehova wird hoch erhaben sein, er allein, an jenem Tage. 12Denn Jehova der Heerscharen hat einen Tag über alles Hoffärtige und Hohe, und über alles Erhabene, und es wird erniedrigt werden; 13und über alle Cedern des Libanon, die hohen und erhabenen, und über alle Eichen Basans; 14und über alle hohen Berge und über alle erhabenen Hügel; 15und über jeden hohen Turm und über jede feste Mauer; 16und über alle Tarsisschiffe und über alle kostbaren Schauwerke. 17Und der Hochmut des Menschen wird gebeugt und die Hoffart des Mannes erniedrigt werden; und Jehova wird hoch erhaben sein, er allein, an jenem Tage. 18Und die Götzen werden gänzlich verschwinden. 19Und sie werden sich in Felsenhöhlen und in Löcher der Erde verkriechen vor dem Schrecken Jehovas und vor der Pracht seiner Majestät, wenn er sich aufmacht, die Erde zu schrecken. 20An jenem Tage wird der Mensch seine Götzen von Silber und seine Götzen von Gold, die man ihm zum Anbeten gemacht hat, den Maulwürfen und den Fledermäusen hinwerfen, 21um sich in die Spalten der Felsen und in die Felsenklüfte zu verkriechen vor dem Schrecken Jehovas und vor der Pracht seiner Majestät, wenn er sich aufmacht, die Erde zu schrecken. 22Lasset ab von dem Menschen, in dessen Nase nur ein Odem ist! denn wofür ist er zu achten?
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Isa. 2:1-22)
The inscription.
The word--the revelation.
2 Same as
Mic 4:1. As Micah prophesied in Jotham's reign, and Isaiah in Uzziah's, Micah rests on Isaiah, whom he confirms: not vice versa. HENGSTENBERG on slight grounds makes
Mic 4:1 the original.
last days--that is, Messiah's: especially the days yet to come, to which all prophecy hastens, when "the house of the God of Jacob," namely, at Jerusalem, shall be the center to which the converted nations shall flock together (
Matt 13:32;
Luke 2:31-
Luke 2:32;
Acts 1:6-
Acts 1:7); where "the kingdom" of Israel is regarded as certain and the time alone uncertain (
Ps 68:15-
Ps 68:16;
Ps 72:8,
Ps 72:11).
mountain of the Lord's house . . . in the top, &c.--the temple on Mount Moriah: type of the Gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, and, like an object set on the highest hill, made so conspicuous that all nations are attracted to it.
flow--as a broad stream (
Isa 66:12).
3 If the curse foretold against Israel has been literally fulfilled, so shall the promised blessing be literal. We Gentiles must not, while giving them the curse, deny them their peculiar blessing by spiritualizing it. The Holy Ghost shall be poured out for a general conversion then (
Jer 50:5;
Zech 8:21,
Zech 8:23;
Joel 2:28).
from Jerusalem-- (
Luke 24:47) an earnest of the future relations of Jerusalem to Christendom (
Rom 11:12,
Rom 11:15).
4 judge--as a sovereign umpire, settling all controversies (compare
Isa 11:4). LOWTH translates "work," "conviction."
plowshares--in the East resembling a short sword (
Isa 9:6-
Isa 9:7;
Zech 9:10).
5 The connection is: As Israel's high destiny is to be a blessing to all nations (
Gen 12:3), let Israel's children walk worthy of it (
Eph 5:8).
6 Therefore--rather, "For": reasons why there is the more need of the exhortation in
Isa 2:5.
thou--transition to Jehovah: such rapid transitions are natural, when the mind is full of a subject.
replenished--rather, filled, namely, with the superstitions of the East, Syria, and Chaldea.
soothsayers--forbidden (
Deut 18:10-
Deut 18:14).
Philistines--southwest of Palestine: antithesis to "the east."
please themselves--rather, join hands with, that is, enter into alliances, matrimonial and national: forbidden (
Exod 23:32;
Neh 13:23, &c.).
7 gold--forbidden to be heaped together (
Deut 17:17). Solomon disobeyed (
1Kgs 10:21,
1Kgs 10:27).
horses . . . chariots--forbidden (
Deut 17:16). But Solomon disobeyed (
1Kgs 20:26). Horses could be used effectively for war in the plains of Egypt; not so in the hilly Judea. God designed there should be as wide as possible a distinction between Israel and the Egyptians. He would have His people wholly dependent on Him, rather than on the ordinary means of warfare (
Ps 20:7). Also horses were connected with idolatry (
2Kgs 23:11); hence His objection: so the transition to "idols" (
Isa 2:8) is natural.
8 (
Hos 8:4). Not so much public idolatry, which was not sanctioned in Uzziah's and Jotham's reign, but (see
2Kgs 15:4,
2Kgs 15:35) as private.
9 mean--in rank: not morally base: opposed to "the great man." The former is in Hebrew, Adam, the latter, ish.
boweth--namely, to idols. All ranks were idolaters.
forgive . . . not--a threat expressed by an imperative. Isaiah so identifies himself with God's will, that he prays for that which he knows God purposes. So
Rev 18:6.
10 Poetical form of expressing that, such were their sins, they would be obliged by God's judgments to seek a hiding-place from His wrath (
Rev 6:15-
Rev 6:16).
dust--equivalent to "caves of the earth," or dust (
Isa 2:19).
for fear, &c.--literally, "from the face of the terror of the Lord."
11 lofty looks--literally, "eyes of pride" (
Ps 18:27).
humbled--by calamities. God will so vindicate His honor "in that day" of judgments, that none else "shall be exalted" (
Zech 14:9).
12 Man has had many days: "the day of the Lord" shall come at last, beginning with judgment, a never-ending day in which God shall be "all in all" (
1Cor 15:28;
2Pet 3:10).
every--not merely person, as English Version explains it, but every thing on which the nation prided itself.
13 cedars . . . oaks--image for haughty nobles and princes (
Amos 2:9;
Zech 11:1-
Zech 11:2; compare
Rev 19:18-
Rev 19:21).
Bashan--east of Jordan, north of the river Jabbok, famous for fine oaks, pasture, and cattle. Perhaps in "oaks" there is reference to their idolatry (
Isa 1:29).
14 high . . . hills--referring to the "high places" on which sacrifices were unlawfully offered, even in Uzziah's (equivalent to Azariah) reign (
2Kgs 15:4). Also, places of strength, fastnesses in which they trusted, rather than in God; so
15 tower . . . wall--Towers were often made on the walls of cities.
fenced--strongly fortified.
16 Tarshish--Tartessus in southwest Spain, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, near Gibraltar. It includes the adjoining region: a Phśnician colony; hence its connection with Palestine and the Bible (
2Chr 9:21). The name was also used in a wide sense for the farthest west, as our West Indies (
Isa 66:19;
Ps 48:7;
Ps 72:10). "Ships of Tarshish" became a phrase for richly laden and far-voyaging vessels. The judgment shall be on all that minister to man's luxury (compare
Rev 18:17-
Rev 18:19).
pictures--ordered to be destroyed (
Num 33:52). Still to be seen on the walls of Nineveh's palaces. It is remarkable that whereas all other ancient civilized nations, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, have left monuments in the fine arts, Judea, while rising immeasurably above them in the possession of "the living oracles," has left none of the former. The fine arts, as in modern Rome, were so often associated with polytheism, that God required His people in this, as in other respects, to be separate from the nations (
Deut 4:15-
Deut 4:18). But Vulgate translation is perhaps better, "All that is beautiful to the sight"; not only paintings, but all luxurious ornaments. One comprehensive word for all that goes before (compare
Rev 18:12,
Rev 18:14,
Rev 18:16).
17 Repeated from
Isa 2:11, for emphatic confirmation.
18 idols--literally, "vain things," "nothings" (
1Cor 8:4). Fulfilled to the letter. Before the Babylonian captivity the Jews were most prone to idolatry; in no instance, ever since. For the future fulfilment, see
Zech 13:2;
Rev 13:15;
Rev 19:20.
19 The fulfilment answers exactly to the threat (
Isa 2:10).
they--the idol-worshippers.
caves--abounding in Judea, a hilly country; hiding-places in times of alarm (
1Sam 13:6).
shake . . . earth--and the heavens also (
Heb 12:26). Figure for severe and universal judgments.
20 moles--Others translate "mice." The sense is, under ground, in darkness.
bats--unclean birds (
Lev 11:19), living amidst tenantless ruins (
Rev 11:13).
22 The high ones (
Isa 2:11,
Isa 2:13) on whom the people trust, shall be "brought low" (
Isa 3:2); therefore "cease from" depending on them, instead of on the Lord (
Ps 146:3-
Ps 146:5).
